Gender Archives - Centre for Social Justice

CSJ Partners NAPTIP On Budgeting For Gender-based Violence

Center for Social Justice — Wed, 24 Aug 2022 00:05:12 +0000

Centre for Social Justice, CSJ, is partnering with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for the implementation of a European Union supported project titled “Budgeting for gender-based violence” in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The Lead Director of CSJ, Eze Onyekpere, who led an advocacy visit to the leadership of NAPTIP at its headquarters in Abuja, said the project is targeting an FCT that is fully responsive to gender-based violence (GBV) and hence, the need for capacity building for ministries and agencies.

He explained that capacity building for ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) on budgeting for the reduction of GBV was part of the core objectives of the project.

Represented by the programme manager, Public Finance Management, Fidelis Onyejegbu, Onyekpere however, stressed the need for policy, plan, budget continuum in budget making, saying that this will ensure that core issues of the agency’s mandate are aptly captured in the annual budget.

Quoting the NDHS and MICS, (2016-17) Onyekpere noted that the figure for the number of women who have experienced physical violence exceeds the national average.

In her response, the director general of NAPTIP, Dr. Fatima Waziri-Azi, thanked the CSJ for the collaboration, which she described as timely, while disclosing that there is no budgetary allocation for the Violence Against Persons (prohibition) Act (VAPP).

Represented by the director, VAAP department, Ijeoma Amugo, the DG said “After the enactment of the VAAP act, there was no budgetary allocation. So you see. This your intervention is quite timely because it is something that we will use to make sure that we get that allocation to make sure that our work is more effective and make sure that all those people who perpetuate these violence against these people are brought to book and the victims too are rehabilitated and reintegrated.”

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Domestic Violence And The Need For Adequate Social Support

Victor Okeke — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 10:50:42 +0000

The COVID-19 pandemic has led the world into a frenzy. Practicing safe hygiene, social distancing, and travel restrictions have become common sights throughout the globe.

However, the effects of COVID-19 also include a spike in domestic violence and is presumed to be seen continually across the globe as stress continues to mount. Many victims of domestic violence are still trapped with the perpetrators, with no means to report it. Studies have shown that women are more likely to face violence when confined with little or no support of law enforcement agencies due to the pandemic.

The accumulation of stressful events poses a risk of significant physical and emotional harm to these victims of domestic abuse. These adverse effects may extend for long periods due to continued abuse, ongoing psychological effects of abuse, or fear of the abuser.

It is a frequently reported behavior in abusers to try to isolate and control their victims so as they may not report violence. As the mobility of the victim is restricted and the perpetrator can easily control access to social media and other means of possible reportage, it is next to impossible for the victim to reach out for help.

Places of worship and communal places of congregation that were used for finding emotional reprieve have limited access currently. As a consequence of controlling behaviour by the abusers, mental distress increases and may range from heightened stress, frustration, and anger to severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Recently, an Apapa Magistrate’s Court in Lagos sentenced one Promise Iwuala to 15 years imprisonment for raping a girl (names withheld) in Tedi community, Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos State.

The convict, a gateman at 15, Samous Street, Tedi, Ojo-Alaba, was arrested by policemen attached to Festac Police Station with the support of Lagos State Domestic and Sexual and Violence Response Team, DSVRT and Family Support Unit and charged to court on a three-count charge.

The victim’s mother said that the convict lured the child with candy and biscuits to his apartment, whenever she was at work.

This has prompted the Lagos State Government to commence the publication of details of sex offenders in the state to serve as deterrence to others.

The Executive Secretary of the Lagos State DSVA, Mrs Titilola Vivour- Adeniyi said that the measure was also in furtherance of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s zero tolerance to all forms of domestic and sexual violence.

In Nigeria, domestic violence is a societal problem that affects women and girl-child in form of rape, maltreatment, deprivations and physical and emotional punishments. It is often supported by culture and religion therefore making women suffer in silence. Domestic violence against women in Nigeria has caused miscarriages, maternal death, psychological trauma and broken marriages with negative consequences on children. Compounding the problem of domestic violence is the issue of women’s perception and level of awareness of what constitutes domestic violence in the society.

New data from the Centre for Social Justice on Sexual and Gender Based Violence and the Budget (A Review of Federal Capital Territory: 2016-2019) shows that the FCT has more women who have experienced physical violence than the national average. In fact, a proportion of men and women still justify domestic violence.

This is partly because oftentimes women are socialized into accepting some form of domestic violence as normal by culture and family members. Such women believe that they are the problem and not their abusive partners. So, women have come to accept beating by their partners or husbands as normal.

The study equally revealed that there is a relationship between level of education and perception of domestic violence among rural women in FCT. This means there is the need to increase girl-child education among the rural populace in Nigeria. Education builds women’s capacity for economic self-dependence and awareness of what constitutes domestic violence in their community and culture. With education enlightenment and advocacy will be more effective and rural women will be given a voice in the society

For victims, social support has been found to both mediate and moderate the relationship between intimate partner violence and mental health.

Social support can be interpreted as social capital. It is an important intervention during stressful events in the family and the individual’s life. Under undue stress, social support is key in relieving the victim’s distress.

Research has identified the beneficial effects of social support on women’s overall mental health. Having stronger family support increases the strength to deal with psychological distress as well as with the abuse. A woman staying with an abusive husband and his family is twice more likely to develop psychological distress compared to a woman having the support of her parents. Adequate social support decreases the risk of violence in a relationship and its negative impacts if present.

The perception that one has access to informational, emotional, psychological, financial or instrumental aid has been associated with positive health outcomes. Emotional support by friends and family prevents deterioration of mental health by them acting as a buffer or moderator to provide a positive impact regardless of the severity of abuse.

The truth is, the interactions and dynamics of social support are complex, but they always show a positive correlation with the quality of life and negative correlation with the extent of depression in the victims.

Other research carried out among the abused women in an Australian shelter have shown that social support in the lives of women causes a substantial reduction in posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety whereas ongoing abuse and the absence of social support contributes to psychological distress. Another study found that higher social support was related to decreased abuse and higher quality of life at multiple points in time of the study.

Abused women who receive emotional, tangible, and institutional support are less vulnerable to psychologically damaging effects of violence and their physical safety is also maintained. Social support influences coping strategies and provides greater perceived options that contribute to increasing the feasibility of a battered woman’s ability to deal with abusers. Earlier studies have reported that social support works in both ways, directly promoting recovery from stressful experiences and crises experienced in the family as well as the protective role of a buffer against the effects of life stressors.

A study conducted by Mahapatro and Singh in 2019 revealed that women who were supported by their parental family moved on to engage in active coping. It was also reported that they needed more social support, particularly from their parental family. They said that an institution could only provide temporary relief from fear and anxiety, but support from the parental family was permanent. In India, the concept of a woman seeking formal support and institutional help is not welcomed by the community. Therefore, the government-designed and implemented institutional programs have often not been utilized optimally. It is only the natal family that extends support to the abused women.

On the whole, it is established that the psychological impacts of lockdown and being trapped with the abusers are wide-ranging, long-lasting, and unabating. The implication of this is that the government should take the initiative to ensure their safety and well-being. This may be achieved by means of awareness campaigns and of dissemination of coping and stress management techniques to combat boredom, activation of social networks, and emotional help and counseling through telecommunication.

Another concern is that of bystanders and neighbors. Instilling a sense of moral and social responsibility will improve reportage. Frontline workers such as postal workers, garbage collectors, food delivery persons, and home appliances repair persons, and people who visit the family and discern DV, should come forward and report violence in the current times. Social groups, state and non-state actors like the Centre for Social Justice must continue in interventions to further rebuild social networks of women to address the conflicts and reduce vulnerability with timely access of rights while seeking justice.

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Eradicating Gender Stereotypes to Promote Equality

Center for Social Justice — Sat, 01 Aug 2020 15:23:17 +0000

Gender stereotypes are preconceived ideas whereby females and males are arbitrarily assigned characteristics and roles determined and limited by gender. They are used to justify and maintain the historical relations of power of men over women as well as sexist attitudes that hold back the advancement of women. Gender stereotypes often are internalized by men and women, and we therefore focus both on how men and women are seen by others and how they see themselves with respect to stereotyped attributes. The differences in men and women are oftentimes, captured in stereotypical images of these groups.

Men and women face different expectations about how they should dress, behave or work. Relations between men and women, whether in the family, the workplace or the public sphere, also reflect understandings of the talents, characteristics and behavior appropriate to women and men. Gender thus differs from sex in that it is social and cultural in nature rather than biological.

Gender stereotyping can limit the development of the natural talents and abilities of boys and girls, women and men, as well as their educational and professional experiences and life opportunities in general. It is harmful when it limits women’s and men’s capacity to develop their personal ability, pursue their professional careers and make choices about their lives. An example of wrongful gender stereotyping is the failure to criminalize marital rape based on societal perception of women as the sexual property of men, and the failure to investigate, prosecute and sentence sexual violence against women based on the stereotypes that women should protect themselves from sexual violence by dressing and behaving modestly.

Gender stereotypes, compounded and intersecting with other stereotypes have a disproportionate negative impact on certain groups of women, such as women from minority or indigenous groups, women with disabilities, women from lower caste groups or lower economic status, migrant women, etc. Stereotypes about women result from deeply engrained attitude, values, norms and prejudices against women. Universally, there are clear patterns of women’s inferior access to resources and opportunities. Women are systematically under-represented in decision making process that shape their societies. This pattern of inequality is a constraint to the progress of any society because it limits the opportunities of one half of its population. When women are constrained from reaching their potential, that potential is lost to the society as a whole.

Equality between men and women exists when both sexes are able to share equally in the distribution of power and influence; have equal opportunities for financial independence through work or through setting up businesses; enjoy equal access to education and the opportunity to develop personal ambitions, interests and talents; share responsibility for the home and children and are completely free from coercion, intimidation and gender-based violence both at work and at home.

However, it is important to acknowledge that where gender inequality exists, it is generally women who are excluded or disadvantaged in relation to decision-making and access to economic and social resources. Therefore, a critical aspect of promoting gender equality is the empowerment of women, with a focus on identifying and redressing power imbalances and giving women more autonomy to manage their own lives. This would enable them to make decisions and take actions to achieve and maintain their own reproductive and sexual health. Gender equality and women’s empowerment do not mean that men and women become the same; only that access to opportunities and life changes is neither dependent on, nor constrained by their sex.

On a global scale, achieving equality also requires eliminating harmful practices against women and girls, including sex trafficking, femicide, wartime sexual violence and other oppressive tactics. UNFPA stated that despite many international agreements affirming their human rights, women are still much more likely to be victims of domestic violence. The fact that gender attributes are socially constructed means that they are also amenable to change in ways that can make a society more just and equitable.

The international human rights framework prohibits gender stereotypes which undermine the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Gender equality is the fifth of seventeen sustainable development goals of the United Nations. Gender equality is intrinsically linked to sustainable development and is vital for the realization of human rights for all. The overall objective of gender equality is a society in which women and men enjoy the same opportunities, rights and obligations in all spheres of life. States have obligation to eliminate discrimination against men and women in all areas of their lives. This obligation requires states to take measures to address gender stereotypes both in public and private life as well as refrain from stereotyping.

Gender mainstreaming is an approach of policy-making that takes into account both women’s and men’s interests and concerns. It was established as a major global strategy for the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women in population and development activities. It requires the integration of a gender perspective to the content of different policies, and addressing the issue of representation of women and men in the given policy area. Gender mainstreaming therefore aims to strengthen the legitimacy of gender equality values by addressing known gender disparities and gaps in such areas as the division of labour between men and women; access to and control over resources; access to services, information and opportunities; and distribution of power and decision-making.

Gender mainstreaming, as a strategy, does not preclude interventions that focus only on women or only on men. Specific interventions aim to reduce identified gender disparities by focusing on equality or inequity as the objective rather than on men or women as a target group. In such a context, sex-specific interventions are still important aspects of a gender mainstreaming strategy. When implemented correctly, they should not contribute to a marginalization of men in such a critical area as access to reproductive and sexual health services. Nor should they contribute to the evaporation of gains or advances already secured by women. Rather, they should consolidate such gains that are central building blocks towards gender equality.

Evidently, we still have a long way to go before all the components of traditional gender stereotypes fully dissipate and recede, allowing men and women to be judged, and to judge themselves, on the basis of their merits, not their gender.

References

Gender Stereotyping: United Nations Human Rights
Goal 5 of Sustainable Development Goals
Gender Equality: United Nations Population Fund
Gender Mainstreaming: European Institute for Global Equality
Tanja Hantschel, Madeline E. Heilman, and Claudia V. Peus (2019) “The Multiple Dimensions of Gender Stereotypes: A Current Look at Men’s and Women’s Characterizations of Others and Themselves.”

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